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Palmyra honors resident for service

Borough presented Jay Armold for his leadership on local projects.

By Chris Sholly

chrissholly@ldnews.com @cgsholly on Twitter

Updated:
03/23/2014 06:04:34 PM EDT

Jay Armold holds his Kepler Community Service award from the borough of Palmyra at a council meeting in January. Kepler was honored for his decades of service, in many capacities, to the borough. Applauding is Palmyra Mayor Fred Carpenter, and also in the photo is Palmyra police Chief Stanley Jasinski. (Lebanon Daily News — Submitted)

When Jay Armold attended a recent meeting of the Palmyra Borough Council, he wasn't expecting to receive any recognition. He attended the meeting for another reason, he recalled recently. But on Jan. 28, Palmyra Borough Council surprised Armold, presenting him with the William and Nancy Kepler Community Service Award.

"I didn't expect anything like that," Armold, who will turn 70 in April, said. "I had no idea I was going to get an award. There are a lot of other people doing good things in the community."

Mayor Fred Carpenter presented Armold with the award in recognition of his many years of service to the community, and most recently for his leadership on the community's 250th anniversary in 2010.

A native of Lititz, Lancaster County, Armold has been active in a number of organizations through the years. The 250th anniversary wasn't the first such event with which he has been involved. He helped organize the borough's 225th anniversary parade in 1985. He helped organize the first two Halloween parades in the community. In 2007, he pushed for a 250th anniversary celebration in Palmyra and was elected president of the Palmyra 250th Anniversary Committee.

Armold was born and raised in Lancaster County and enlisted in the U.S. Navy in 1962. After serving his country, Armold took a job operating a Mobil gas station in Manheim. It was in the mid-1960s that he met his wife, Dorothy, on a blind date. The couple has two daughters, Karen and Brenda, and four grandchildren.

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Armold moved his family to Palmyra, where he took over a gas station, Jay's Service Station, at Harrison and Main streets. But it was tough making a living pumping gas, he said. He was making 2 cents a gallon on regular gasoline; 3 cents on premium.

"You had to pump a lot of gas to make a living," he said. So he decided to get out of the gas station business and took a job with Gingrich Motor Co., then located at North Ninth and Lehman streets in Lebanon.

Through the years, he also worked for the Klick Lewis dealership in Palmyra, running the dealership's body, parts and service departments.

He later worked at AMP/Tyco, becoming a third-shift group leader, managing 120 employees, before he was laid off. He then worked for the Manheim Auto Auction before returning to Klick Lewis, from which he retired.

Armold was active in the community for many years.

"I've always wanted to be involved," he said. "I was involved with the Jaycees and the recreation association."

He served as a baseball coach for fifth- and sixth-graders and as a softball coach when his daughters were involved in the sport, he recalled.

"It was a good way for me to be involved with my daughters," he said.

He also helped to organize the first two Halloween parades in Palmyra in the late 1960s. The annual Halloween parade eventually was combined with the Christmas parade and became the holiday parade, he said.

In the mid-1980s, he joined the 225th Palmyra Anniversary Committee and was asked to organize its parade.

"It wasn't so hard to do the 250th anniversary celebration," because he had the experience with the 225th, he said. "I enjoyed it. There was a lot of camaraderie."

After the 250th celebration, the committee had $50,000 remaining in its funds. Armold said the committee wanted to do something with the remaining money that would benefit the entire community. It decided to donate the money to Palmyra Borough to make improvements at Fireman's Park at South Grant and Spruce streets.

Armold said the committee purchased a strip of land along the back of the park, next to the railroad tracks, and gave that to the borough for the park.

In addition to the $50,000 seed money from the 250th committee, the borough received a state park grant, giving it more than $500,000 to refurbish the park. Construction on the park is expected to start this summer and be completed by September.

Mayor Fred Carpenter presented Armold with the Kepler Community Service Award in January, praising him for service to the community. Armold is the second person to receive it. Dennis Haines, a decorated Vietnam War veteran, was the first recipient of the award in 2013.

Armold credits his wife with helping him with his many community activities through the years.